Ideas for greener mobility in Kaiserslautern

After studying civil engineering at RPTU, Anna Rothhaar took the opportunity to pursue an academic career at the university: she is now a traffic engineer at the Institute for Mobility & Transport - and has already changed the cityscape of Kaiserslautern.

I never thought that the topic of mobility would grab me at some point. But I always knew that I wanted to study something technical or mathematical. So I travelled from my home near Pirmasens to the study information day at the former TU Kaiserslautern, now RPTU. A presentation from the Department of Civil Engineering introduced me to the degree programme in all its facets and immediately got me excited. So I enrolled on the course for the summer semester straight after my A-levels. The course is broadly based and there are various opportunities to specialise in one area. I then discovered my passion in a lecture: mobility and transport planning.

“Born and raised on the countryside, I know the problems of mobility only too well.”

I am very attached to my home and initially wanted to stay at home during my Bachelor's degree. That's why I travelled 30 km to and from university every day. I've had a car since I was 18 years old - completely normal in the countryside and something I've never questioned. The main reason for this is that public transport in the countryside is simply not well timed and is not a real alternative.

The transport planning lecture showed me very clearly that we have a problem with mobility and the current transport infrastructure and that we need to do things differently, better. That's why I decided to specialise in ‘Infrastructure and Environmental Planning’ as part of my Bachelor's degree. Based on the knowledge I gained from the specialisation lectures, I then decided to write my Bachelor's thesis in this area. Here I was able to work with the city of Kaiserslautern to realise something concrete in terms of mobility and plan the first cycle route for Kaiserslautern. I was very proud when the city of Kaiserslautern decided to actually implement the plans from my bachelor's thesis. The cycle lane has now been installed in Rütschhofstraße.

A turning point for e-scooters in Kaiserslautern

I enjoyed my bachelor's degree so much that I decided to do a master's degree as well. I also wanted to do this at RPTU, as the diverse Master's degree programme in Civil Engineering specialising in ‘Infrastructure, Water and Mobility’ is offered here - exactly the area I wanted to continue working in. My Master's thesis also continued with a practical focus on the topic of mobility. This time, I focussed on a mode of transport that has become a problem in many cities: the e-scooter. In Kaiserslautern in particular, with its hilly topography, e-scooters are especially well suited to easily overcoming differences in altitude. But many people are familiar with the problem: at the end of a journey, the e-scooters sometimes end up in the middle of the pavement or the road.

What has already worked well in cities such as Munich and Berlin should now also be implemented in Kaiserslautern. In collaboration with the city of Kaiserslautern and the e-scooter rental company TIER, I planned parking spaces for e-scooters in the city centre as part of my final thesis. The aim was to ensure that e-scooters would only be parked in the selected parking spaces in future. To do this, I analysed all the journeys made in Kaiserslautern over the course of a month and investigated usage and parking behaviour. I incorporated the results into my planning and was able to make recommendations as to where parking spaces should ideally be set up. In line with my plans, around 12 e-scooter parking spaces have since been implemented in the centre of Kaiserslautern.

Studying with a practical orientation and improving mobility

It's a great feeling when you walk through the city and see the results of your Bachelor's and Master's thesis. The high level of practical relevance that regularly exists at the Institute of Mobility & Transport through co-operations has ultimately motivated me to continue researching in this area as a research assistant. My next goal is to do a doctorate.

I have since moved to Kaiserslautern and benefit from the mobility options in the city myself. I now often leave my car at home and travel around the city by bus or e-scooter instead. I would like to see something similar for rural areas: better infrastructure so that people are less reliant on their cars. Only then will people be prepared to rethink their behaviour and opt for greener mobility. I have experienced that myself.